


How Does One Woo?

by Verdant_Mercury



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, DEArtfest, Fairy Tale Elements, Humor, Inspired by Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, Magic, Mermaids, Misunderstandings, Other, Tina Chen & Gavin Reed Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25148596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verdant_Mercury/pseuds/Verdant_Mercury
Summary: Gavin and Tina search the depths of their swampy home for the Perfect Gift for Tina's ongoing courtship with Valerie. Things don't go as planned.DEArtfest Day Nine: Mermaids
Relationships: Lazzo Fratello/Lazzo's Girlfriend, Tina Chen & Gavin Reed, Tina Chen (Detroit: Become Human)/Valerie Morales-Chen
Kudos: 2





	How Does One Woo?

**Author's Note:**

> Just a couple of swamp bro's being gay.
> 
> There will be a day that I won't love trying to write Gavin and Tina's friendship. Today is not that day.

Tina broke the surface of the water first in near silence. A handful of seconds and Gavin followed suit. The slightest of ripples against the leisurely current of the river. Her fin brushed against the weeds in the water’s depths. They both glanced around, ears and eyes primed for the gleam of unwanted eyes. Nothing but the usual din of the Hilry swampland. Insects buzzed, birds above, and a humid breeze blew through the thick trees above. The swamps looked as it ever did. A constant dusk, courtesy of the old, and frankly staggeringly large trees above.

Tina tilted her head towards the edge of the river with a raised eyebrow. Then it was a flurry of splashing limbs as they raced towards the shore. Tina not so gently smacked Gavin in the face with her tail as she dipped back below the water’s surface. Exhaled a laugh rendered muffled and mostly bubbles in the river as she heard him curse in the human’s tongue before he darted after her. The barest ghost of a hand on her tail and she shot out of the water, smearing bits of grass and damp earth against her front.

“That was a dirty trick,” Grumbled Gavin with a frown too deep to be anything but forced.

Tina offered a toothy grin. She reached up towards a branch that hung low over the water. “That was legitimate. It’s not my fault your face was in the way of my tail.” With the branch's help, she righted herself on the bank. Her fin, an array of copper’s and browns dipped into the shallows and she flicked some water his way.

Gavin grumbled out a warbling chirp as he joined her at the bank. Their equivalent of ‘ _Bastard_.’ Humans had creative insults. She had to give ‘em that much. Coming up with their own version of cussing was a favoured pass-time. He flicked water into her face with webbed fingers.

Tina brushed a hand against the bag at her side, adjusted the damp, woven river weed bag just to ensure she had lost nothing. Now came the unpleasant part.

She plopped the sack next to her and withdrew what she’d need next. A change of clothes. The same kind she wore for the sake of a human’s delicate sensibilities. This one would be a big longer, more of a dress even if Gavin called it a sack. Not like _his_ shirt was any better than hers, though he had on cloth shorts. His tail, an array of green spots with amber, twitched eagerly in the water.

A breath and she hummed. The Ever-Change was a quiet melody as it wasn’t meant to be heard but to be sung. A few heartbeats, and Gavin joined in, the tone lower but interwoven with her own. Discomfort swept across her fingertips. She brushed webbed fingers together first. Her face contorted against the pain, a whispered numbness that then was struck with biting needles along where her form bent underneath their joined unwavered hymn of change.

Tina left the scales that crept up her back, her webbed toes, and a few other things that would be necessary for the day ahead. She ran fingers against her fin. Countless times until the flesh split in two, and she was merely touching legs. By the end, she looked human enough for a day in the Hilry.

Gavin’s tune carried on alone. Likely wanted to appear more human than Tina enjoyed. The barest hints of scales, their gills, and those grey eyes that shone silver sometimes.

She spared a moment to bask in the strangeness that was legs. Then she reached for the tree branches again, held on for balance as her body struggled to learn what legs meant again. Gavin’s melody broke as he snorted out a laugh, then a yelp as the disrupted refrain gave him a nasty jolt of pain.

When he struggled into the pants, Tina returned the favour and chortled loudly as his body teetered dangerously close to falling back into the river they had just climbed out of. He shot her a glare over his shoulder, hand digging into his bag with a viciousness. She grinned, and he threw a pair of trousers which caught her right in the face. Already soaked but not heavy enough to weight her down. She pulled it off with an abrupt laugh just in time to catch the aggressive middle finger he gave her as he retreated up the bank.

“Prepared for the first phase of my brilliant and ingenious plan?” Tina shouted at his back, despite Gavin being well within hearing distance. He snorted, loudly.

“Yeah, just don’t set off any more traps. Unlike you, _I_ enjoy having legs.” _Hatchling._

“Why do you even like having legs?” Tina smacked one of her own legs to illustrate her point. “Two floppy appendages, well actually”

“Don’t you fucking dare,”

“ _Three_ , I’m so terribly sorry to forget.”

“I will leave you to find Valerie’s gifts on your own, I swear,” Tina cackled at the look he shot her.

“Fine, you catfish.” Tina started up the bank after Gavin. “I got a good feeling about today. It has to be today where we find something enough for her.” Something Valerie deserved, something that would show how much she meant to Tina in _their_ way.

“That’s what you said when we found those rocks,” His arms were crossed, bare feet sinking into the soft soil.

“You know they were very pretty rocks, Gavin. Hard to believe no one wanted them,” Especially when they got them under open sunlight. They shone like sunlight on blue waters, but Gavin had said the humans they met on the routes through the Hilry wouldn’t accept them. Had stammered the whole time, too. Humans were weird.

“Yeah, none of our-the humans would accept them either,” Tina watched with delight as Gavin’s shoulders rose up towards his ears. Oh, he knew what was coming.

“ _Our?_ ” Tina smoothed her expression to one of innocent inquiry. He tossed a look that could and _would_ wither plants. Tina, however, was not a plant, and whatever power hummed in his bloodline fell short in that moment. Her smile turned toothy, and he turned his head sharply. Not quick enough to hide the subtle flush that crept.

“How _is_ Conner and his brother?”

“How’s Valerie?” Gavin shot back.

“Are the two related?”

A heavy sigh. “Why do I put up with you?” Familiar territory, words that had passed between them countless times. Gavin’s head turned ever so slightly, just enough that Tina could spy the barest of smiles that tugged on his mouth. A good day for him. Even better.

“Cause I’m the only one of our kind who comes here year after year,” Tina gave him a few moments. Just enough to think she’d drop in. Then continued; “And you _like_ me,”

Gavin’s silence was all the answer she needed, even as he started off towards their goal for the day.

Tina whistled as they went, the humid air stirring with the faintest breeze. Unlikely, they’d come across folk from the towns that bordered the Hilry. Most just wanted to make the crossing. Travel between the towns that dotted the edges of the swamp-lands. Few would risk the dangers that lurked this far in; the lawless, and inhuman like Gavin and herself. Idiots, maybe. People just stupid or desperate enough for the ruins that dotted the Hilry’s territory, ripe for exploration if only you were prepared. This deep in, there was little evidence of humans to be found other than those skeletons of a long dead civilization.

It would not be the first time they had gone rummaging through such places. It was time well spent when they found something interesting, and even better when they found humans to ask about said discoveries.

“You know you never answered my question,” Tina broke the silence.

“Hm?”

“About Conner and his brother.”

“What about them?”

“Their father hasn’t come by since the fork incident, has he?” Not something Tina was inclined to let him forget or live down. It was the first time she had seen a human laugh so hard they cried.

“How was I supposed to know they’re for eating? I don’t stay in towns long enough for that.” A patch of grass wilted under Tina’s feet. “Oh, and like you are any better. You ate Valerie’s flowers the first time she gave them to you,”

“They smelled nice and if my memory is correct, you had one too!” Tina flushed. The taste hadn’t fulfilled the promise of how good it had smelled. An utter betrayal.

“Maybe so and there are some flowers you can eat,” The closest thing to admitting defeat he’d get. Tina tossed her hands in the air, a gesture much easier outside of the water.

“...Nines says hello,” Gavin mumbled out, pointedly not looking in her direction. The underlying implications could go unsaid. For now.

Only after Gavin tried to toss her into a puddle that was more muck than water did they arrive. A half-sunken fort of sorts, a crumbled tower the only clear marker of its location. Moss and the other vegetation of the swamp overtook it. She slowed to a stop, as did Gavin, and she gave him a smile. Small, genuine, and not a trace of shit-eating to be seen.

“Gav this is perfect,” Tina clasped her hands together. With all the water no one would’ve gone too far in and the best stuff was always in the depths. Humans weren’t a fan of wet shoes either.

“Didn’t know you wanted to eat bugs next,” Gavin averted his gaze, and waded into the water. Tina full on leapt, heedless of the shallows just to be annoying. He barely blinked as a twig tangled into his hair.

“Race you,” Chimed Tina, body already diving to swim. A splash behind her was the answer. She kicked furiously, bemoaning how woefully ungraceful two legs were compared to her tail.

* * *

The faintest shimmer of Gavin’s eyes was all her eyes could see in the half-sunken library they found themselves in. She brought a hand up to her eyes and hummed another refrain of the Ever-Change. Why had she bothered to change them into something more human before? Even in the Hilry the sunlight could peak through sometimes, and to her underwater eyes, it could be near blinding. She had half expected something in the outskirts that day and not deep in. The scent of damp and mildew filled the air.

Finally, she dropped her hands, eyes blinking as more of the library came into view. All the books looked thoroughly ruined. She wandered past water damaged tables, fingers tracing along the warped black wood. Tina heard Gavin open a book behind her, then the moist thump as he dropped it onto the ground.

“The ink bled,” Disappointment wrapped around the edges of his tone.

She picked up a rusted piece of metal and held it up. “What do you think this does?” She asked. Gavin shrugged and picked through the shelves again. It was strangely shaped. One part fit perfectly in hand, but the top? Bottom? It split into two, a small melded ring on the very top/bottom’s.

“It’s blunt. Maybe a weapon?” Gavin offered. She gave it an experimental swing. It was heavy enough.

“Gavin, you think everything’s a weapon,” Tina tossed it back onto a table with an absurdly loud clatter. Weapon or not, it was too rusted.

“It is if you try hard enough,”

She opened her mouth, paused, and then sighed. “You’re not wrong.”

Small empty jars. She tossed it to Gavin, who then tucked them away into his bag. A few weirdly shaped sticks. Those were thrown behind her, a small ‘ _hey!_ ’ from Gavin meant they had met their mark. Gavin had found no books worth saving that time, so they continued on. Feet padding against cool stone.

Some doors they could open, others not. More than a few crumbled after a heavy push. They walked along the dim corridors, along the floor slick with the dampness that permeated the space. There was little light to be found, the windows only allowing the faintest gloom of the Hilry beyond.

There had been a story there, once, but that had been washed away with time. Only remnants remained, but they did their best to piece it together over their time together. Stood together in front of a human-ish sized stone statue was a true test of the binds of their friendship.

“Look at that face! That is a prince!” Gavin smacked the stone cheek. It was a good face, but Tina would stand her ground. She pointed down at the legs.

“You eyes must be burnt by sunlight cause princes either wear tights or poofy pants! Not metals like what these stiff edges it meant to be. It’s in all the books you have, Gavin. He’s obviously a king of sorts,”

“With this face? Look at these cheeks,” Gavin’s nails turned white as he squeezed the stone. “He’s too young to be a king, and he doesn’t have a crown!”

“But all these things?” Tina pointed to the statue’s chest, an assortment of shapes. Not meant to be clothing. “They’re called pins. Valerie told me about them. Humans give them as a sign of accomplishment. Kings do things that warrant accomplishment?” Tina’s tone turned hesitant at the end.

“I’ve seen...-” Gavin squinted at the pins for a moment. “-citizens wear ‘em too.”

“What have they done?”

“Growing food, running the markets. The important stuff,” Gavin nodded seriously, which Tina joined in. A stupidly good point. _Providers_. Rulers could only be as great as their peoples, granted it had been some time since either Tina or Gavin had been anywhere with a great number of other Mer’s and large human town’s.

“...Shouldn’t a prince have a crown?” Tina asked after a few moments of nodding.

“Maybe he’s a secret prince?”

They called it a draw. A secret monarch. It was the only thing that made sense. It would’ve been a suitable gift, if they could’ve figured a way to get it outside.

The further they ventured, the more water appeared in their path. A quick check to ensure their loot was secured before they dove further in.

The world was quiet, or more quiet underneath. A peaceful one, even in the murkiest brown rivers Tina had crossed. Nothing quite compared to seas, the open water and the brilliancy of colours hidden away beneath the waves. To float and bask in the sunshine without a single thing in sight among the blue. The change to the salty waves was always a strange one, half uncomfortable after the fresh water’s and vice versa.

Uncomfortable, but oh so worth it when winter came, and the seas and their abundance of life called. As was when the rainy springs and summer months and her heart ached for the places, the people she had called home. A small hut deep in the swamps, which she only called it such because it annoyed Gavin. The warm arms of a human she was almost certain loved her, but a bit of bribing wouldn’t hurt. Humans who indulged her questions. Home. As simple as that. Perhaps the fields in summer could be as was the sea.

The waters of the keep (fort?) Kept them from seeing very far, and if not for the flash of Gavin’s scales, Tina might’ve lost them. Much as they did when they were walking, they pondered the scraps of life that floated past, or sunk to the bottom of the floor. A flash of something below, something shiny, and she swam down.

Fingers wrapped around a compact round thing and realized with a start it was a mirror. Tina saw her eyes, brown that gleamed, stray hairs that escaped her hair tie no matter how firmly it was bound. She saw as Gavin slid behind her, a soft croon left his mouth.

‘ _Congratulations_. _You discovered you have a face,'_

Tina’s elbow moved back, slowed by the water, but still contacted his abdomen. She tucked the mirror away.

‘ _Want to see what I found?’_ Gavin’s smirk fought against her curiosity and she nodded.

With an absurd amount of glee, Gavin pulled out another face? Pale white and stark in the water. Like the statue, it lacked the details of a true face, but enough remained that it was clear what it was meant to be. Tina’s eyes widened, and she held out a hand expectantly.

‘ _Like that one book,'_ She held it up to her face, watched as bubbles left Gavin’s mouth, mouth curled into a smile. After a few minutes, bubbles rising from their lips did she try to hand it back. Gavin pressed her hands back. Yet another unvoiced command even under water. She tucked it away into her bag.

‘ _A fancy room could be nearby,’_ Tina offered, and they were off again.

Down another flooded hallway, they came across their first true roadblock. A half collapsed hallway, fully immersed. Both Tina and Gavin gestured at one another, trading words back and forth. An argument about who went first. Then, a game of boulder, parchment, shears. The best thing Nines had ever taught either of them.

Tina won, and Gavin used an entirely different gesture to express his displeasure over the loss. Tina moved closer to the beams of wood and ruined stone. Her hands drifted, prodded and poked to see what would shift. She glanced behind. Gavin with his arms crossed as he watched.

‘ _Get over here I found a way through,’_ Tina hummed through the still waters. Sure, a bit of a squeeze, but fancy rooms and trinkets for Valerie. Some, she may even like this time. Well, actually like instead of that closed-mouth smile and a kiss. Worth it.

Tina pushed against the beam, a call of caution from Gavin behind. When nothing collapsed, she squeezed herself through the narrow space. Carefully, she swam forward, mindful of both her bag and legs. Inch by inch, she all but crawled along the floor, eyes drawn forward. Minutes passed until the promise of a semi-open space greeted her. Obviously, a perfect moment for Tina’s stupid legs to have kicked too hard.

Tina all but dragged herself, heedless as caution was firmly thrown aside in the dash to get out from underneath half ruined rubble, firmly on its way to full. Gavin’s call came muffled and distant yet still seeped through the cracks.

‘ _Okay?’_

Tina heard the worry in his song. Such things could be hidden in a human’s tongue, but less so in their Mer’s.

_‘Aren’t you glad I won our game?’_

_‘No,’_ Nothing but the truth there.

Tina took stock. At least it wasn’t a dead end.

Gavin’s melody drifted in again. ‘I’m gonna find another way through. Remember not to talk to any strange fish,’ A sourness still clung to it, but hey, at least he tried.

Tina hummed an affirmation and swam further along. Mostly waterlogged still, but there was faint air pockets, gaps of stale air she had no use for. She still darted up if only to check if there was anything left to float.

The further Tina went, the more the water seemed to drain. After their aimless exploration, she had little clue of where exactly in the fort they were, but it had to be far. They hadn’t turned _that_ much. Eventually she was met with the discomfort of walking yet again, body heavier as she hefted herself free of the waters and onto slimy stones again.

She whistled, loud and piercing. The sound echoed, bounced further than any human could. No answer. Tina continued. She paused, eyes wandering on molded tapestry, but it was just a little less fun without Gavin to bicker with. On the way back.

Tina would show him on their way back.

* * *

Pain. A blunt force that crashed against Tina’s body. A weight that dragged her down, pressed her against the cold stone floor, thrashing in the knee deep water. A net made of metals, sharp edges dotted the net. Small spikes of steel that pressed and scraped against Tina’s skin.

She had only found another room. A large one. Silence and dim where the Hilry’s shown through broken windows. Tina had seen the shattered edges of glass and had thought little of it. A tree pushed by strong winds. Or even the lawless’ own games of amusement. A way other’s had gotten in. Gavin would have a field day when they got back to the hut.

Tina released a choked cry as a boot came down on her leg. She shoved a hand against her mouth to stifle any further sounds. Tried to breathe around the hand and settle her heart rate, the rush of adrenaline through the terrible surprise. Still to lessen the amount of cuts. Light, they shoved torches near enough she felt the stifling heat in her scales. She couldn’t help it, she flinched back against the stab of pain the light brought to her eyes.

“Holy shit, kid was right,” The torch came closer. Tina fought not to shy away.

“Sure about that? Looks like just a girl,” A second voice chimed.

“Look at her back, along her neck. One of the mer-folk, that’s for sure,”

Tina’s body untensed as the flames moved away. She cracked an eye to find four humans gawking at her. The one closest with the torch had grey hair, the eldest. A human in the later years.

“I thought they liked saltwater,” The second voice she heard again. This one a dark-haired man.

“Stupid. That’s just the old wives' tales. My cousin Arry told me they go anywhere there’s water,” A woman, or what she thought was a woman? Long hair and voice less roughened than the rest.

Finally, a boy who stood behind the other three. Eyes wide and fixed upon her face. He said nothing.

“Why don’t you have many scales, or a fin?” The woman asked.

“Gods, Minn you can’t just ask that of a Mer,” The old man shook his head at her. “The old parts about them shape-changing. That’s true enough, suppose. Shame though. Scales like that ought to cost a fair bit of coin. We’ll just have to make do,”

Poachers old hunters. Of course, it’d be the day Tina was meant to find The Gift for Valerie that she’d run into them. She curled up, held her hands to her chest. She guessed there was no choice beyond showing them why humans really stopped hunting the Mer. Softly, she warbled out the ever-change song, dipped the pitch into something sad and mournful if only for the human’s sake.

For a few seconds, not one of them spoke as the melody echoed gently over the waters and was carried away.

“Wha-what’d you guys mean? Thought we’d just you know, sell her off or to a collector or something,”

“Ah, in the old days-”

“Your days,” The dark-haired man mocked. Tina’s nails gave way to budding claws, unseen and untouched by the firelight. She brushed a hand against her mouth, teeth sharpening from the blunt edges of a human’s.

“- _You’d_ get a few collectors, yes, but even more than that, there’s the rich folk who liked the look of scales.” The torch came close again. “Course no one these days hunts ‘em. Outlawed in the civilized parts, but there’s still enough scales of the Mer’s that go about the markets. If you know which ones to check.”

“You never said,”

“You lookin’ a little green about those ears, Lazzo. Thought you’d do just about anything for some coin,” Tina peeked up. The boy looked pale. Barely twenty seasons, if Tina had to wager. She covered her face once again. “Don’t get fooled by its changing. I’ve seen these creatures during my time at sea. Nothing human about them,”

Finally, Gavin’s own version of the ever-change was returned and all the surrounding humans fell silent. Sorrowful and questioning in a way that rang false in her ears. She cupped her eyes.

“Ah, that must be the second one you saw, kid. Even if it’s like this one, we’ll be rich. Make it sing, Minn.” The old man’s voice dripped in satisfaction. Gross.

Tina pulled her hands back in time to see the strike coming, and she let the sound of pain leave her mouth as icy steel jabbed against her arm, bounced off scale and sliced flesh. Ouch. The warbled sound carried.

“Get the other net ready, we’ll lure it in, force it to stop with its mate here,” _Ew_. “Lazzo, watch that one.” The old man shoved a dagger, mean with its serrated edges. “Don’t screw this up,” The water sloshed around his boots as the rest of them tried to position themselves.

They were well between her and where Gavin’s song had come from. Weapons worn from the Hilry in hand. Tina lifted her face from her hands unfurled from her curled state and met tired eyes through the harsh netting.

The boy, close enough that only she could’ve heard. “Sorry, I-uh-” The boy’s mouth thinned, a stolen look towards his humans, then back to her. “Don’t-doesn’t mean much, but, uh-yes,”

Gavin’s song halted. The boy, Lazzo’s eyes, averted to where the trio were rooted. Tina bit down on her tongue, shifted so slowly in the net until her hands were braced on the floor, muscles tense. The faintest ripple from another corridor. Tina _sprang_.

Her hands tug into netting, scales and claw dulled the spiked edges. Yanked hard, and dove underneath the edges of the netting. Tina’s leg kicked out, knocked Lazzo’s feet clean out from under him with a splash. She spared a moment to meet his eyes and bared the jagged row of teeth. “Stay down,” Tina hissed.

A wordless noise of panic from one of the other humans as she spied the familiar flash of brown hair burst into the space.

Tina slid along the floors, passage eased by the smooth scales that covered her legs. Minn was the first to look back, eyes wide as Tina swept forward right into the back of her knees. Tina’s claws sunk into the meat of her calf and tore in deep as the human shrieked in pain. With her other hand, Tina grabbed an ankle and pulled hard.

Thrown off balance, Minn crashed down, weapon falling from her hands. Her panicked instincts failed her, blunt fingers scrabbling against slick stones as Tina dragged the struggling human towards her. A hand in Minn’s hair, and Tina’s fist connected with her nose, a satisfying crack under her knuckles. Another punch and Minn’s flailing legs ceased. Tina barely made sure she was face up before she checked to see how Gavin fared.

Blood dripped down his arm from a shallow cut on his shoulder.

The two humans stood, backs to each other. The old man faced Gavin, while the dark-haired kept his focus on Tina. Weapons raised, Tina and Gavin circled the two remaining threats. Lazzo had done as she ordered, with the barest hint of satisfaction.

Gavin’s lips parted, a quick note, more question than anything solid.

 _'Whistling winds_ ’

Tina nodded, just once, and Gavin’s question became solid. It started low, a drifting dragged melody like the lapping waves. Land worn down against the pressing of waves. For the second time that day, their voices twined. The old man’s eyes widened.

“Shut ‘em up!” The old man hissed. Still waters stirred from more than just their movements. A current, a shadowed whisper of the seas that curled around her wrists. The old man moved first, sword moving as smooth as water, the dark-haired man stepped closer towards Tina, a spiked sphere. A mace.

He thrust forward, and Tina jerked back. He advanced, stance wide, and braced against the momentum that came hand in hand with his mace. He swung, slow but no less dangerous. Tina ducked, and without pause he cycled into another sweep. A brush of wind as she just missed catching the mace to the face. A slash, and she drew blood and left a jagged wound on his arm. They remained locked. Tina struck out at every pass of the mace that got just a little closer to its mark.

Step by step, he drove Tina further and further back and she made him pay for every single inch.

Their song neared the apex, swirling water that threw each human off kilter. The dark-haired man’s swing went wide, and Tina struck. Her claws dug into the meat of his forearm, dug in intending to tear, and was met instead with an elbow to the face. Her voice wavered as she crashed onto her back. The waters stilled beneath her. The mace came down, and she rolled.

Agony shrieked from her shoulder, which then from her mouth and disrupted the whistling winds. A glancing blow, a prelude to the full strike. A second where the man stood above as Tina gripped the bloody wound. The mace wound around, reared back for a blow that would maim if not outright kill. Tina tried again to move.

The iron crashed against the ground, disturbed the water. A wet thud as the dark-haired man collapsed face first only to show the boy behind him, dagger still raised. He looked just as surprised as Tina felt. Then Tina could only watch as webbed fingers wrapped around his ankles and pulled him down. Lazzo flopped forward, scrabbling and sputtering as Gavin stood up behind him.

“Shit, looks like that hurt,” Gavin bent down and plucked the boy’s knife from the water.

“It did,” Tina let herself float there for a moment, hair fanned out in the water before she finally sat up. Significantly more holes that she needed. “Next time, you’re getting the one with a mace instead of just a sword,”

“Hey, old guy was experienced,”

“And _old_ ,” Tina pulled herself to her feet. All three of the dangerous, well the actively dangerous ones were laid out. Unconscious and face up in the water.

“Um.” Ah, yeah. The human in the early years. “So...please don’t eat me! I know that wasn’t okay and I really-I mean not really okay. _Obviously_. I wouldn’t blame you for being upset,” Gavin scoffed. “I mean, uh, I-I wouldn’t? You know, I mean I would be upset cause that wasn’t...nice?”

Gavin held up the knife behind the boy, wiggled it and gave Tina’s wounds a Look. She shook her head.

“I didn’t know they’d try to...like dice you up. For parts.” Gavin’s eyes turned cold. Oh boy. Gavin rounded around the boy, gave him a wider berth than he probably needed.

“Why?” Gavin’s words were more of a demand than an ask.

“Obviously cause the real serious laws n’ stuff-”

“Why’d you decide to use this,” He thrust the dagger towards the boy. “and help her out?”

His eyes darted between the two of them. “I’m with them but not really with them. It’s just supposed to be a temporary thing, though guess that hasn’t changed cause-” He gestured towards Minn. “-I’ve been through these parts before, know my way around, and I just thought-”

“You thought what?”

“I needed the gold okay? My girlfriend, she’s not doing so great. We might’ve pissed off a witch, which really wasn’t our fault okay? Wrong place, wrong time and I don’t know if you know many witches but when they get pissed, being told they got the wrong people is basically impossible. Cause, rage. There isn’t a whole lot of work in these parts that would give me the money to hire some _real_ help for her,”

“So, you hunted us for your mate?” Tina asked.

“Uh, if it helps I helped you cause of my girlfriend too? She’s not human, or not fully human. She would’ve been upset if I helped dice up a couple of Mer-folk or whatever to help her. I’d like to add again, didn’t know that was the plan,”

Desperation then. “Is it a fatal curse?”

“Yesss...no. She won’t die but it’s really not a good time,”

Gavin glared down at the boy, a tense rigidness to his shoulders the longer the boy rambled. “Got a name?”

“Lazarus, uh, but people just call me Lazzo. So, you’re people. You can just-” A half shrug. “-do the same, if you want?”

An awkward silence descended. Gavin looked as if he had eaten a lemon again and Tina ached. There was only the sound of the Hilry, and the faint dripping of water off of all three of them.

“I got some stuff, if you want. Take it all or toss it into the swamps. Please, just don’t eat me,” Lazzo reached pointed to a far corner of the room. A half-ruined table, and a few different bags. Gavin raised his eyebrows, and Tina shrugged, then winced as her shoulder cried its protest.

“Be smart, and don’t move,” Tina warned.

“Right, yes, right? Seen how fast you two are,” Lazzo clasped his hands in his soaked lap.

Tina sloshed towards the bags while Gavin checked on the rest of the humans. Clothing ill suited for the Hilry, camping supplies. She tucked a tinder box into her bag. Few variations, a few silver and copper coins which she took. In the last bag, her hands stilled as her fingers brushed against silver.

Tina withdrew it from the bag slowly. A long chain with a circular pendant? She lifted it closer to her face. She brushed her fingertips along the intricate patterns that laced around both sides. A slight squeeze of the top/bottom and one of the side’s popped open. A watch. The hands still moved and Tina abandoned the rest of the bags as she rushed towards Gavin.

Without pause, she tossed the coins she had pilfered from the bags in Lazzo’s directions, a surprised squawk the only sound to show he received them. Gavin met her halfway, dagger and a matching sheath in hand.

“Gav, this is perfect,” Tina breathed out as she held out the watch for him to see. His eyes met hers, and some harshness drained from his features.

“It is,” He agreed quietly. His hands ghosted over the watch before he pushed it back fully into her hands. Tina took the hint and stashed it away, hidden safely among the other treasures of the day.

“Gavin,” Tina closed the distance until they nearly touched.

“I know what you’re gonna say and the answer’s no,”

“Gavin, he’s barely a guppy,” Tina gestured to where Lazzo still sat.

“A guppy who almost gutted you,” Gavin’s hand tightened around the handle of the knife. Gingerly, and with enough time that he could pull away, she laid her hand over his.

“Maybe but he did it for his mate,”

“You really believe that?” Gavin’s mouth curled into a frown, but it wasn’t the overtly stubborn one.

“You know the looks people get. We’ve seen it enough, or I have.”

“What-you just want to do what?” Gavin’s eyes flickered behind her, met her eyes again for a few long seconds.

“Let’s just...give him the rocks? They’re pretty enough that someone is going to want them somewhere,”

“Just going to give him a chance, after that?”

“Yes,”

With his free hand, Gavin reached up and ran a hand through his hair. A few seconds and he let a defeated sigh. He turned away and started towards the windows the humans had likely come in through.

“Why do I put up with you?” Tina placed a hand on her hips, amused smile, and the first real smile since they had been forced to part.

“Cause you _like_ me,” Gavin called over his shoulder.

She returned to Lazzo, who held the coins in clenched fists.

“I’m Tina, and that’s Gavin. Don’t be too scared of him. He used to think forks were weapons.” She held out a hand for him to take. “It’s your lucky day,”

* * *

Regret. It wasn’t a familiar taste. Was this how Gavin felt when she wouldn’t shut up? Was this how it was to receive Conner’s attention? Nines and the quiet judgment when they both did something dumb. The rivers called her name, begged her to dive in and escape from the endless questions. They weren’t even _good_ questions.

As soon as Lazzo had realized that they weren’t interested in causing him harm, his mind came up with questions at a pace faster than Conner’s had when he learned of their true nature. The last hour since they left the fort, and the other humans behind to fend for themselves was filled with bursts of silence and words.

 _Could they see more colours than humans, do they lose their teeth like infants, was it true you got a wish if you stole a mer’s tail, what do fish think about, was there really a king with a very big fork in the seas?_ Gavin’s face had been particularly wonderful at the last question. At least the human had stopped jumping at every quick movement either of them had made.

“If you don’t shut up, I will eat you,” Announced Gavin for the third time that hour.

“You said Mer don’t do that,”

“ _We_ don’t,” Gavin flashed the barest hint of his teeth, and Lazzo shrunk back.

Tina hid a laugh behind her hand.

They were blessed with a whole twenty minutes of silence after that.

“Is eating other fish considered cannibalism?”

“Don’t you dare,” Grumbled Gavin, eyeing the way she stared longingly at the sluggish current.

Gavin’s home could be summarized in three words; cozy, small, and lived-in. It had been easy enough to get to, if one knew the Hilry just right.

Atop a small incline, and then elevated further on a deck. Gavin’s home, a cabin, though Tina preferred hut. Perfect for the hermit he was. She knew the wood went deep into the soil, kept his home upright even in the worst of the rain seasons. Moss covered roof, solid wood walls, and the faint glow of a lantern in the window. He probably hasn’t bothered to clean up their last haul that bordered on mess.

“I thought-you know, mermaids were all about the water,” Lazzo stared up at the house.

“Yeah, Gav’s unique,” She watched as her friend vanished inside. He left the door wide open.

“What about you?”

“I come and go with the seasons,”

Lazzo shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Can I ask what the watch is for?”

“Now, you’re asking that?” Tina gave him a half-smile.

“Right, right. Just never met another something-oh someone’s like my girl. So...?”

“It’s for my courtship, that’s what you humans call it.”

“Oh....OH.” Lazzo’s eyes fixed onto the ground. “Yo-You’re...not with him?”

Tina made a quiet disgusted noise before she could think better of it. “No, no we’re not mates,”

“So...who-”

Gavin appeared back in the doorway. Dressed in fresh, dry clothing and hair an absolute mess. He tossed a cloak in Lazzo’s direction. The young man fumbled and clutched the fabric to his chest. In Gavin’s other hand, he held a sack, rough but sturdy fabric.

“Here,” Gavin held out the sack.

Tina watched as Lazzo took the sack and nearly dropped onto his own foot with a sharp yelp. “Rocks! Yeah, rocks, _right_ ,” He gave them both a single uncertain look, then cracked open the bag. Quiet at first. Then, the sound a soft choked gasp as if the boy had tried to swallow his own tongue. He pulled on the rope, tightening it. “You said these were rocks,” His voice straggled.

“They are?” Tina shot Gavin and had a confused look. She stepped forward, and Lazzo almost tripped on his feet as he stumbled back. She pulled it open and yep. The shiny, glittering rocks. Same as before.

“You know, humans had a weird reaction the last time we tried to give them these,” Gavin gave Lazzo a long, scrutinizing look before he shrugged.

“Really?” Lazzo’s voice jumped higher in pitch. “We-well, if you’re sure? I’ll just...take these...and go.” He laughed nervously. “Thanks, for not killing me,”

A moment of silence as Lazzo stared at the two of them. Gavin cracked first. “Okay, scram. Shoo, get out of here already and don’t let us catch you running with that type again,”

“Right!” And Lazzo did just that. Nearly tripped into the much as he did so.

“Humans are so fucking weird sometimes,” Said Tina as they watched Lazzo disappear into the swamp.

* * *

Tina tilted her head back as the sun streamed through the tree above. A warm weight at Tina’ side, her girlfriend, her mate, _her_ _Valerie_ leaned against her. Slowly, Tina’s thumb rubbed against Valerie’s hand. A moment of peace. Grateful, in that moment, that Gavin was half decent at healing.

It was as close as she had gotten in months to Valerie’s town, the familiar sight of buildings, and the outskirts of town off in the distance. A wide green space, a road where she had seen Valerie coming a long way off, and had rushed to meet her halfway.

“So, what’d the boy do next?” Valerie’s voice was softened, either by the food or a sign of the encroaching twilight hours.

“He left. I don’t see what was so surprising about rocks,”

“Wait, were they the ones Gavin tried to give Nines?” Valerie’s head lifted from her shoulder, eyes bleary but intent to focus.

“Well, we had no use for them.”

Valerie laughed once again, and then didn’t stop. She leaned back against Tina’s side. Her body shook with the force of her laughter.

“Val?” Tina felt her face flush.

“You-” Another peal of laughter she tried to smother against Tina’s side. “Those were valuable. That’s why Nines wouldn’t accept them!” Her voice shook as she wrapped an arm around Tina. “I can’t believe you two,”

“It’s not like either of us spend a lot of time around humans! There’s not some academy on how to handle all your rules and customs,” Tina retorted. Valerie reached out. A warm hand slid along her jaw, turned her crimson face until Tina had no choice but to meet her eyes.

“I’m sorry, love.” Her thumb rubbed against her cheekbone. “I can’t help it if I think you’re cute,” Tina reached up, clasped her hand over Valerie’s and then slowly pulled it away. She leaned in. Or maybe Valerie did first and their lips met in a gentle kiss.

One kiss turned to two, to three, to four. A smile against her mouth. Tina withdrew just enough to murmur against her mouth.

“Fine, we’ll be more careful in the Hilry,” She felt Valerie’s shoulders shake in quiet laughter again.

“I guess that’s all I can ask,” Another quickly kiss. And she pulled back. Tina felt the loss of their close proximity keenly. “A little river fish told me that you had something for me?”

“Go ahead and spoil the surprise then,” Tina leaned over the blanket. Fingers grasped the edges of her bag, which she then dragged closer. “There’s a few some things,” Bit by bit, Tina retrieved each item, and laid out the story of how she had come about them. The mirror, the mask, one of Gavin’s little jars and finally the watch.

Tina watched eagerly as Valerie opened the watch, her eyes immediately shooting up to meet her gaze. Inside, a scale. Painful to lose, but better than it going to waste. A promise, a reminder when winter came and her nature called for departure. A weighted moment passed as Tina watched Valerie clutch the watch in white-knuckled hands. She knew she did good.

Valerie scooted close, resumed their previous position, and leaned against her side. Quiet. A peace that neither felt the need to fill for a very long time.

“Hey, Tina?”

“Hm?”

“Why do you and Gavin do this, with the gifts?”

“A lot of us are wanderer’s, Val. We go where the waters call us and that’s not always where our hearts lie.” Tina’s voice lowered, a quiet admittance. “It’s so we aren’t forgotten,”

A hand in her own, fingers wound tight. A summer sunset.

Tina would remember and maybe, just _maybe_ so would Valerie.


End file.
